SSI exemption interpretation: brand-name clearances expressly excluded from aggregate value, so the revenue demand could not stand.

Where an SSI exemption notification expressly excludes clearances bearing another person's brand name from the aggregate value computation, those clearances cannot be counted for eligibility. The wording of Notification No. 8/98-C.E. and later small-scale exemption notifications was materially different from earlier regimes, so precedents under Notification No. 175/86-C.E. and Notification No. 223/87-C.E. did not control. On the text of the governing notifications, brand-name clearances were to be left out of the aggregate value limit, and the demand based on including them was not sustainable. The assessee therefore retained the small-scale exemption benefit, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether, under Notification No. 8/98-C.E. and the later small-scale exemption notifications, clearances of goods bearing the brand name of another person and other duty-paid clearances were to be excluded from the aggregate value of clearances for determining eligibility to SSI exemption.

Analysis: The notification contained an express clause excluding clearances bearing the brand name or trade name of another person from the computation of aggregate value. That wording was materially different from the earlier notification regime considered in the cited precedents. The earlier decisions under Notification No. 175/86-C.E. and the notification introduced by Notification No. 223/87-C.E. were distinguished because the relevant explanatory exclusion was not in the same form in those provisions. On the text of Notification No. 8/98-C.E. and the later notifications, the excluded clearances could not be counted for the aggregate value limit.

Conclusion: The demand based on including such clearances in the aggregate value was not sustainable, and the Revenue's appeal failed.

Final Conclusion: The assessee retained the benefit of the small-scale exemption under the governing notifications, and the Revenue's challenge to the Commissioner (Appeals) order was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an SSI exemption notification expressly excludes brand-name clearances from the aggregate value computation, the exclusion must be given effect according to its text and earlier authorities under differently worded notifications do not control.

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